Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Day/Night Cycle Poll Take # 2

OK. So, the last attempt seems to have failed. Let's try again.

1. No Day/Night Cycle - Game as is currently. Absolutely no change to the game at all.

2. Day/Night Cycle with Realtime clock - There is a full realtime clock. Every second you play the game is a second in the game except when you click on Short Rest or Long Rest. Each Short Rest moves clock 1 hour. Each Long Rest moves the clock 8 hours. There would be a 2 Short Rest limit per Long Rest. This would be similar functionality to the old BG1 and BG2 games except with the addition of Short Rests that move the clock 1 hour each. So, in summary, the changes are that the End Day button is replaced by Long Rest and a realtime clock, Long Rest = 8 hours, Short Rest = 1 hour, and 2 Short Rests per Long Rest. Oh, and pause would need to be implemented better with a quick pause feature similar to other games that allow pausing so the Realtime clock can be paused and unpaused easily. This would allow players to stop the clock when it matters most, such as with potion durations, rage duration, etc. It would be similar functionality to Solasta. Oh, and they'd have to implement some sort of sun positioning in the sky so that if you rest for 8 hours you can see that the lighting has shifted from early morning to afternoon to evening to middle of the night to early morning, etc.

3. Day/Night Cycle with Long Rest button but no realtime clock - Same as option 2 except no realtime clock. This would be easier for Larian to implement. Day and night are triggered by clicking on Long Rest. Again, 2 Short Rests per Long Rest. The big difference between this option and Option 2 is that a Long Rest doesn't equal 8 hours. It triggers Day to Night or Night to Day. Period. No various sun positions in the sky (or moon or whatever). It would simply be Long Rest transitions from Day to Night and Long Rest transitions from Night to Day.

4. Day/Night Cycle triggered by Short Rests - Similar to Option 2 except no realtime clock and Short Rests transition from morning to afternoon and then from afternoon to evening. So, if you want to travel by Night and adventure by Night, you'd have to use your 2 Short Rests to first transition from Morning to Afternoon, and the second would transition from Afternoon to Night. This would keep the 1 Long Rest per day functionality that is currently in the game. The only change to current game would be that Short Rests control time by moving the position of the sun from one part of the sky to another and then creating a night version of the surface map.

5. Day/Night Cycle with Day/Night button - No Long or Short Rests used to transition from Day to Night. You just hit the button and it transitions from Day to Night. If you want to transition back from Night to Day, you need to End Day. This allows players to adventure by night and still use their 2 Short Rests per day. It also keeps the game to 1 Long Rest per day. It is up to the player whether they want to play by Day or Night, and there is little impact to Long or Short Rests. Long Rests are still End Day and there are still only 2 Short Rests per day. The only real difference is there would now be a button to essentially change the lighting on the surface and allow for Darkness Stealth Advantages, Sun Sensitivity functionality to be properly implemented, etc. with minimal impact to resting mechanics.

Day/Night Poll #2 single choice
	No Day/Night Cycle - Game as is
	Day/Night with Realtime clock
	Day/Night with Long Rest Button and NO Realtime Clock
	Day/Night triggered by Short Rests
	Day/Night Button
Votes accepted starting: 21/04/22 05:29 PM
View Results

Just to be sure I understand well your third suggestion.

It means that you'll have a full day cycle (2 short rests + 1 long rest) than a full night cycle ?
I guess it could work too even if it doesn't really make sense, especially if long rests are supposed to be "the end of each days" (I think that's how Larian has thought about it but I'm not sure it really matter story or gameplay-wise).

I voted for #2 but reading it as the general version: X game seconds = Y real-life seconds, not limited to 2 short rests per long rest (and you can lengthen the short rests to any # of hours to pass time freely)
Otherwise I'd vote #5

A lot of the camp and narrative stuff is tied to the time of day. Id rather things stay as is honestly

That's why it's interresting to make the time pass according to short rests.
First of all, Larian consider that you long rest in the end of each days. As you said many things are builded arround that (story, cinematics,...) We should not forget it.
We should also think about multiplayer.

Solution 2 would not work imo.
With a clock, would we have to wait until the end of the day to long rest ?
Fine, but then they'll have to add a "wait" button that would make the system exactly as it is now, but with an additionnal button to eventually click on before long resting.
And what happen if it's the end of the day but you just have waited to play at night ? You have to end the day and to long rest ?
Not very interresting in the end.

If I understand well, solution 3 mean 2 long rest per day, wich doesn't match with the initial statement and what's already done...

Tied to short rests, you have the exact same system as now but with different ambiances depending how many times you've short rested (day, afternoon, night).

Voted for 1 ... just to piss off Tuco, no other reason really.

//Edit:
Kidding!
Now for real ...

I really cant decide between 3 and 4 ...
I would like rests to move the time ...

But Day/Night button seems to me like excelent idea!
That should certainly not be forgotten!

Im affraid tho ...
That Larian would feel the urge to recreate every single camp conversation in morning light, noon light, evening light, early night light (or dark?), midnight light, and late night (or early morning) light ... wich would be MADNESS!!!
So i gues i go with option 4 ... just Day and Night button, with no sun or moon movement at all. :-/

GM4Him, I just want to re-iterate what mrfuji3 said in the previous thread, that is to say, be careful about being overly specific.


I'll restate what I have already expressed elsewhere, and still firmly believe in :

• Feedback is not design. The designers and developers make the game. We give our opinion on it.
  
  I highly doubt that, if there were willing to change a game feature (e.g. No Day/Night Cycle, Schrödinger Resting Camp that is findable-in-the-world yet in a secure pocket plane, Freely Usable Long Rests, etc), the devs would comb through the mass of variants that some players have brainstormed and say "oh yeah, that one is a good idea, let's implement it this way".
  
  
• Good feedback is about what we players like/dislike in the current version of the game. And ideally an explanation of why something does not work.
  
  Whether this it an explanation of why a design choice is demonstrably bad, or an explanation of why it does not resonate with you.

Currently, the poll mixes "are you fine with No Day/Night Cycle or do you feel like there should be a Day/Night Cycle ?" with "how would you implement a Day/Night cycle ?".


In my view, the only valuable information from this poll is the number of people who voted 1 versus number of people who voted something else. If some Larian devs was to look at this, or someone collecting the forum feedback for Larian was to process this before passing it on, they would have to tally up the results for answer 2 to 5. That's extra work and, still in my view, we should keep feedback simple and easy to process.

Also, for players who want to contribute, you are making us read through 5 detailed options ... again, that's extra work. Keep it simple.
Also, what if someone is very close to your option 2, but disagrees with the "1 second of playing the game = 1 second in the game world" ? What should they choose ?
Personally, I voted for an option at random between 2 and 5.

For clarification purposes:

Example Scenario 1: You crash on beach. You can Short Rest 2 times. You Long Rest. End of Day. You adventure by day in broad daylight only. No adventuring by night. Night is reserved for campfire dialogues, etc.

Example Scenario 2: You crash on the beach at 7:00:00. You move about and meet Shadowheart at 7:03:05. She joins your party after a dialogue that lasted 5 minutes and 10 seconds. It's now 7:08:10. You make your way around, explore some things, and then encounter the intellect devourers at 7:17:30. Your fight with them lasts 5 rounds (30 seconds). It's 7:18:00. You Short Rest. It's 8:18:00. You continue on through the game and after doing a bunch of stuff, you're just outside the Dank Crypt and you short rest again starting at 8:43:32. After short rest, it's 9:43:32. You do more stuff and finally, at 10:33:49, you decide to Long Rest. You regain spell slots and health and everything, just like present End Day. Time progresses to 18:33:49. Sun is now over in the western sky. It's getting late. It's almost twilight. You adventure some more. At 19:29:06, you arrive at the grove and battle. Afterwards, it's 19:30:11 because the battle took 11 rounds. You decide to short rest. It's 20:30:11. Sun has set. It's nighttime now. You do more adventuring. You short rest at 20:45:51. After short rest, it's 21:45:51. You adventure some more and finally long rest at 22:06:09. When long rest ends, it's 6:06:09 in the morning. It's still dark. Dawn hasn't come yet because dawn is at 7:00:00.

Example Scenario 3: You crash on the beach. It is day. You move about and adventure. You use 2 short rests. It's still day. You long rest. You regain spell slots, health, etc. It's night. You adventure about some more during the night. You use 2 short rests. It's still night. You finally long rest. You regain spell slots, health, etc. It's day again and you have 2 more short rests to use. Adventure by day. Use 2 short rests. It's still day. Long rest. It's night. Wash, rinse and repeat.

Example Scenario 4: You crash on the beach. It is morning. You adventure about, fight the devourers. You need a short rest. You take one. It's now afternoon. You adventure, take a short rest. It's night. You adventure. You have no more short rests. You need to rest again. The only rest you have left is End Day. You End Day. All health and spell slots, etc. are restored. It's morning again.

Example Scenario 5: You crash on the beach. You don't want to travel by day. You're a drow. You have sun sensitivity. You will get disadvantage on most rolls because it's broad daylight. You click on Day/Night button and it's night now. You get no benefits of waiting until night. You just wait until night. No spell slot restore. No health restore. Nothing. You literally just changed it from Day to Night. You adventure by night, use 2 short rests, and need to long rest. You long rest and it's day again. Full health restore, spell slots, etc. Ah, but you don't want to travel by day, just like before. So you click the Day/Night button and make it night again. You still have 2 short rests that day. You journey about and use both. Time to long rest again. You long rest and it's morning again. Wash, rinse and repeat.

Meh. Whatever. To me it's 6 of 1 or half a dozen of another.

I COULD do a poll that says:

"Day/Night? or No Day/Night." 30 people reply. 10 want No Day/Night. 20 want Day/Night. But out of the 20 that want Day/Night, there are 50 responses of people saying, "I want Day/Night but I want realtime clock with it," and "I want Day/Night but I just want it to be with a button so I have full control," or "I want Day/NIght because..." Either way, Larian has to read the 50 responses to see what the tweaks are to the Day/Night cycle. People are still going to suggest how they think it should be implemented.

I mean, I thought the idea of these forums WAS to suggest how we'd like to see the game function. I'd like to see the game function in a way where Long Rests are 2 per 24 hours, 2 short rests per long rest, and each time you use Long Rest you transition from Day to Night or Night to Day. That's my personal preference. I could just put that suggestion out there (which I have), and there'd be no poll to determine how many people would prefer this approach versus a different one.

Frankly, I'm tired of the endless debating on how these things should function. People going back and forth endlessly saying the same thing with no one really sure how many people are in favor of what? I'm interested to see how many people are in favor of what. I tried to come up with 5 different options that I thought would cover most bases. Pick the one that fits more closely to the one you want and then give a suggestion in the thread as to what you would make differently about that option. At least this gives us more of an idea of who likes what options. Right?

I don't know. Maybe it's just me.

Disagree ... i think the idea with day/night switcher button is great, its a little hidden under all the other things, true ... but it certainly have its value!

Im not quite sure if feedback was purpose of this topic ...
It seemed more like survey to me ... after all, i highly doubt that final count of voters will suprass 50.

No, it really isn't. It's just tied to being at camp. And even that would be fixable with contextual animations (i.e. the characters would be placed to pose more or less in the same way regardless of the background).


Anyway, voted 2 with the same caveat of the previous thread (meaning: real time clock that freezes when even just one player is in turn-based mode to prevent weird desync issues).


NOT having a day/night cycle at all simply stinks and it's downright one of the worst decisions Larian made so far.
And designing one around the idea of having it as toggle is barely any better.

Don't worry, when it comes to you pissing me off comes just as naturally as breathing.

Yay! ^_^

Voted 1. We gotta work with what we have. Baldur's Gate3 with day&night cycle is a very different game then what we have now - with different NPC schedules, resting system, quest design etc.

The prefered, wish option would be no.2, others don't really make much sense to me.

I hate you all, by the way.

D:

In the end it doesn't really change much, it's not like Larian was ever going to change path now, during their final rush to complete the game anyway.
But the last thing I expected was to see people opt in mass for the blatantly WORST design choice among the proposed ones, and not even by a nose but by a landslide.

The lack of a night /day cycle is something that will weight on the overall quality of BG3 even years after its release, like the shitty Diablo-like randomized itemization did on DOS 2.
And there will be no way around it, since it's beyond the scope of what modding could address.

Roaming through the streets of a city that will know no proper night and will be stuck to a perpetual noon (outside of few scripted scenes) will be a massive fucking bummer, for instance.
When with a more ambitious developer we could have got dusks and dawns coloring the scenery, street lights turning on one by one, thieves and vampires ambushing the party at night, etc, etc.
Basically a metric fuckton of mood and atmosphere to enhance the illusion of being in a believable, living virtual world.

So, you'd prefer Day/Night cycle with realtime clock, but because you don't think you'll get it you voted for No Day/Night cycle? Hmmm. I understand you're maybe a realist, but this is just a forum for feedback. Why not ask for what you want and if you get it, yay? If not, well, at least you asked.

Mostly because Larian would need to impliment day&night in a very impactful way for it to be desirable. Have NPCs work on schedule. Shops/nightlife open and close in certain times. Quests that can be done in certain times of day. Have players pick times of day tactically to achieve their goals. That would be too fundamental change, touching too many aspects of the game for it to be just added. And don't take me wrong, if you would tell me "AAA cRPG" that it kind of stuff I would hope for. But we already know it is not what we are getting.

At this point, if they would cave in, the best they would do is a cosmetic day and night - and I don't particularly care for it. I'd rather save my breath here, and complain about what we have and how Larian can make BG3 we have better, then dream of what could have been, if BG3 wasn't structured like it is.

"You jounrey during the day, sleep at night" could work alright. My current petpeve is that I don't feel the balance between exploring and resting is good - I don't think I rest enough, resulting in eternal day and me missing companion interactions. Exhaustion mechanic? Maybe communicated through change in lighting to transition smoother into night camp?

This isn't a binding poll; Tuco is right that it will have literally zero effect on Larian's decisions. The most use it will have will be as evidence in future arguments on this forum, so you should say what you ideally want. That'll make it more likely that the results support your point-of-view. >:)

Something something <insert recent real world hypothetical example where people vote for the option they think has the best chances instead of the option they'd most prefer, resulting in a self-fulfilling prophecy> (yes I realize your reasoning is slightly different @Wormerine)
Mods can we get ranked choice polls? XD

Ah, you must be new here. Welcome to the BG3 forums!

Though, if you combine options 2-5 which are all FOR day/night cycle, then FOR wins 9 to 4. I wouldn't call that a landslide for "No day/night cycle"